Remember that public service message where a guy would suddenly appear on television and say, “It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?”
I do.
It would be late, and I would be wide awake. I was always wide awake because when I was a child the night was when I felt the most active. And my favorite activity was watching television. I would be sitting in our living room, glued to the television, and all of a sudden this guy would come with that well-known message. And I would think to myself, “What are children doing out at 10 o’clock?”
I tried to imagine what children would be doing out at 10 o’clock. I pictured them playing in cemeteries. What else was there to do at night? I also tried to imagine the reaction of those kids’ parents. I pictured the parents answering, “No,” to the question posed, and then just sitting there, not doing anything. I mean, if they didn’t know where their children were, what were they going to do? Start looking in random places? If they’d asked me I would have suggested checking the cemetery.
I always found the message depressing because it meant that my mother was going to tell me to turn off the television and go to bed. Which meant that I would have to start the homework that I’d put off all evening to watch my shows.
Do they still air that message? If they do, they’ve probably changed it to, “It’s 10 o’clock. Are your children still logged on to Facebook?”
“Still logged on to facebook!” Loved it.
Haha, yes loved the bit about Facebook.
And thanks for reminding me that I actually never played in the cementery. Wow. There was one close by, but not that close. Don’t know why we never went there!! It’s so strange. We did all sorts of insane stuff.
Yes, I remember that announcement very well. I was, in fact probably hearing that from my bedroom. I knew it was now going to get very quiet in our home. Daddy was already in bed, this meant mommy was going to check on us kids and turn on as well. Sometimes we would be fast asleep, other times I’d get caught listening to my transistor radio under the covers! Oh those days are now long gone. Now a mother, grandmother I was reminded of this when my boys got their driver’s license. There were too many nights I did not know where my sons were. I wish the word curfew still held it’s value. Thanks for sharing!